2018 Jonesie Awards LIVE from Parliament

The Taxpayers’ Union is about to launch its latest report and present the inaugural “Jonesie Awards” for government waste at Parliament.  The steam below will go live in the next few minutes.

Update: Winners announced

The winners are:

Local Government Jonesie: Auckland Council’s “vegan-approved goat hunt”.  The Council spent $91,742 on a Hunua Ranges goat cull in 2016/17 that killed zero goats.

Central Government Jonesie: The New Zealand Film Commission’s $1.6 million “Power Rangers pavlova”. The Commission paid American producers of the children’s TV show “Power Rangers” $1.6 million to include references to New Zealand in its script, such as a plot involving a pavlova.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development, Infrastructure, and Forestry, receives this award in recognition of the scale of pork-barrelling achieved via his $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund – of which so far only 10 per cent has been allocated.

The full list of nominations (and the report) are on the Taxpayers’ Union website.